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Hubbard County brothers face charges in armed standoff

A standoff at this home in Park Rapids ended Wednesday morning. (Sarah Smith /Enterprise)1 / 3

Brian Jon Bloom2 / 3

Allen Gene Bloom3 / 3

PARK RAPIDS -- Two Hubbard County brothers with lengthy criminal records face a litany of charges in connection with an armed standoff that ended early Wednesday morning when authorities teargassed the home they were holed up in.

Brian Jon Bloom, 31, and Allen Gene Bloom, 39, will be arraigned Thursday in Hubbard County District Court.

Park Rapids Police Chief Terry Eilers said the incident began at 8 p.m. with complaints of shots being fired downtown on Main Avenue. Police immediately began looking for two male suspects,

A short time later, a second complaint was called in about shots being fired near a medical clinic downtown. "We were looking for the same guys," Eilers said.

About 1 a.m. police were called to 309 Lake Avenue, when complaints about more shots being fired and a fight under way were called in to authorities.

A man identified as 47-year-old Lynn Barton ran from the home with a gun-shot wound to his leg. He was quickly taken to St. Joseph's Area Health Services in Park Rapids with non-life threatening injuries, Eilers said. He was later transferred to Detroit Lakes.Crime scene photographs showed a wound to his right knee area.

"Officers entered," Eilers said. "A guy was shot in the leg. They were able to get him out of there. The two individuals we were looking for were there."

A lengthy standoff followed, in which more shots were fired from the home, Eilers said.

"We set up a perimeter and waited," the chief said.

"They were waving guns and knives and making threats to the officers," Eilers said. "From the way they were pointing guns and calling out the individual officers, we suspected they were doing a 'suicide by cop' thing," Eilers said.

"We called in the SWAT team," he said. "At 5 a.m. we decided enough was enough and we gassed the house."

The two men, brothers recently released from jail, were taken into custody and will be arraigned this morning. "They are well known to us," Hubbard County Sheriff Frank Homer said.

The guns and knives were confiscated when the men were arrested.

The standoff occurred in a residential neighborhood. Frightened neighbors said they heard tear gas canisters being lobbed through the home's picture window.

Both suspects, who are being held in the Hubbard County jail, have a litany of convictions for crimes including DWI, burglary, forgery, assault and issuing worthless checks.

County Attorney Don Dearstyne declined to say what the brothers are being charged with, but did say there could be multiple counts filed in the case.

Twenty officers from Park Rapids, Hubbard and Wadena Counties converged on the residence.

It is believed the men's mother, Margaret Eischens, called from the residence to report the fight in progress. She was screaming when officers arrived on the scene.